The Order of the Divine Wind
by Rose Colored Philosophies
Summary: Ventuswill the Divine Wind had always treasured her people and the peace that rested within her lands. Now it was the duty of those who had sworn fealty to her to continue upholding her ideals even while she herself is unable to. Though, she wasn't sure what she had been thinking when she had allied such people as ersatz nobility, an impish priest, and a prudish knight to do it...
1. In Which the Tale Begins

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rune Factory, merely borrowing its settings, characters, and basic plot to write my own entertainment.**

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**The Order of the Divine Wind**

Chapter 1

_In Which the Tale Begins_

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Leon knew next to little about the world he seemingly fell into when the young, mint haired and doe eyed Earthmate had rescued him from his eternal slumber. Sometimes, to be honest, it still all felt like some sort of strange dream, one he'd drift from at any moment and find himself in another dreamless sleep. To be honest, it terrified him at times and he found himself awake till nearly midnight most nights or even later, afraid to fall asleep to only find out that this world was nothing but a wonderful fallacy.

The only one at the moment that knew of his insomnia and phobia was Ventuswill the Divine Wind herself, though, he hated burdening her with such knowledge. Venti had been plagued enough by his and the others actions. However, he still felt incredibly guilty, having overheard her discussion with Amber, Dylas, and Dolce. He was somewhat surprised that she had yet to lecture him, but perhaps it was because, once upon a time, it was his sworn duty as a dragon priest to put Venti's life above his. Becoming a Guardian was his only option to elongate her lifespan. She had been so young then, too young to die.

It was that guilt that had him confessing all sorts of things to her, like how he couldn't sleep, his nightmares, and the heavy burdens of his soul, often when everyone else was asleep. And, despite the fact that he had usually roused Venti from her sleep to seek her council, she listened and she offered what solace she could to her oldest and dearest friend.

Sometimes, she would offer him great words of wisdom, but more than often, she would sit and tell tales about her people. From long before this current generation to more current events. However, when talking about more modern times, Frey was often in the middle of all of it, it seemed, as Venti told her tales of this generations comings and goings. It was perhaps due to one of those few precious nights that Leon's views upon the pseudo princess began to change.

"Hey, Venti," Leon asked one night, laying against Ventuswill's belly as she drowsily kept him company. Her head as between her wings and she looked nearly ready to nod off.

"Hmm?" She mumbled tiredly, her eyes slowly drooping more and more. It seemed that tonight's session with her would not be lasting long.

"I know I've heard a lot about Frey and her escapades here in Selphia, but, it would seem, that I've never actually _heard_ of when she first came here. In fact, most of the stories you've told me can't possibly date back past a year at most, then you got sick, and- well, you get the point."

"Nobody really talks about it here, for her sake." Venti informed him with a yawn. "It would do you best not to mention it either. She had a rough first year, especially since she couldn't remember anything prior to coming here."

That caught Leon's attention. "Wait, what?" He was peering at Venti's head, ears perked up and eyes full of curiosity. "What do you mean- doesn't remember?"

"Frey suffers from long term amnesia." Ventuswill admitted sadly. "She had lived under my protection for nearly two and a half years now, but she has not regained a single memory since before she came here." She let out a half-hearted laugh as she corrected herself. "More like crash landed here and used _me_ as her landing pad."

"Wait, wait, wait." Now this sounded interesting. Why had no one mentioned this to him before! If Venti left him wanting, he was so going to go find Kiel tomorrow and badger it out of the blonde gossip. The kid couldn't keep a secret even if he tried. Actually, with how much he was around Kiel, _why_ was this the first he had ever _heard_ of how Frey came to live here as the acting princess. He already knew all of Forte's embarrassing secrets and those were things Kiel was actually trying to keep a secret! "Let me get this straight. She _fell_ from the sky _with_ amnesia and landed on _you_?"

"Yes, and we mistook her for Arthur too. Though, to be fair, at the time we didn't know what the gender of our visiting royalty was." Venti admitted with a sheepish look.

"That has to be the _best_ thing I've heard since the time I found your overgrown hide trying to fish with a fishing pole next to Dylas." Leon laughed at the thought of Frey coming crashing into the palace, startling Venti into revealing her 'secret' self, and then consistently insist everyone was _wrong_, that she wasn't a princess, only to be able to rub it into their faces when she turned out to be _right_.

"Hey!" Ventuswill snapped as she pouted. "I told him I was sorry after I had accidentally knocked him in! I was still young! I didn't have full control over my reflexes and I had been _excited_."

That only made Leon laugh harder, holding his stomach as he recalled how wet and pissed Dylas had looked when Venti had managed to fish him out of the river and, he clutched his sides harder as he remembered the _fish_ that had been caught in the other man's clothes, slapping him in the face with its tail. Ah, good times, good times.

"Oh, you!" Venti huffed, using her tail to push him away from her. "Go home Leon and let me sleep."

Leon was still on the ground, though he was now curling up on the ground still laughing since she had pushed him away from her.

"Ah, ha haha ha," He was at least trying to calm himself. "I needed that, heh heh heh."

"Go to bed Leon before you_ wake up _everyone _else_ in the castle." Venti told him, though she did nothing else to berate him at laughing at some of her more embarrassing moments.

"Fine, fine," Leon agreed as he started to pull himself up. "But your going to have to finish that story, and maybe even give an in depth version of it. Now I'm way too curious about it."

Venti's mood suddenly got quite somber. "There isn't much else to tell. She came here, became the princess, and, well, we all agreed not to talk about that first year. It was _hard_ and I might have messed up a few things, _badly_. But I didn't know that I'd still be here... I thought I was going to die..." If it weren't for his ears being keen he may have missed the last sentence. "I thought I was doing what was best..."

Leon frowned as he looked at his old friend. "What do you mean Venti? You know you can always talk to me."

She merely shook her head. "I... no. If I am to confess my sins, I will confess them to the one I've wronged _first_." She lifted her head a bit to throw Leon an apologetic smile. "Sorry Leon, you're just going to have to wait on that tale for a few nights. I have to talk to Frey about it before I speak to you. She should know first."

"Alright..." Leon frowned, not liking it, but what could he do? "I'm holding you to it, Venti."

"Yeah." She gave him a pleased grin. "I hope you will. I'll be needing it when I incur _her_ wrath. She's scary when pissed, I'll tell you _that_ much."

"Coming from 'Ventuswill the Divine Wind'? Yeah, I'd believe it." Leon let out a low chuckle before stretching a bit, wondering how flustered and cute Frey possibly looked when she was angry. Meh, he'd figure that out soon enough, of that much he was certain. For now, it was time to go. "Okay, Venti. I'll be heading out. Which way is faster?"

There was two different routes he could take, but, to be honest, he'd never exited out the back way before.

"Go through the fields." Venti encouraged him. "Frey planted flowers in that plot and most of them are in full bloom. She'll be harvesting them soon, so go and enjoy them while they're there. Especially with all the firefly flying about. It's absolutely beautiful."

So with that said, Leon took the back exit, entering the farmland out in the back where Frey worked the fields everyday on top of the other countless activities she preformed.

Venti was right. It was beautiful out back. The moonlight hit the field turned garden as the fireflies danced about carefree. The flowers, though not all were open, were an array of colors and some even had yet to close, allowing the fireflies to land and light some of them up. In a way, he could see the mysterious warrior princess's true heart. There was no doubt from him that she communed with the earth and in its reply it reflected her very heart and soul.

Leon didn't go home until the sun was up, lying in the middle of that makeshift garden, and he had almost been caught by Frey lounging in her garden when she came to manage her fields that morning. Even then, he was already planning to come back again when her next batch of flowers were in full bloom.

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading my story. I have been on a Rune Factory binge since I got my 2DS and started playing Rune Factory 4. I love all the characters and the fact that they tied the other games to this one so well. (Third game actually makes reference to the four native dragons and names them all by name. Venti was in there. Also, I love that they tie in characters from the older games into the newer ones. Way to make it feel all one world.)

The prompt that I used for this chapter is _Beginnings_. I guess I merely used it as a way of marking the beginning of this story. So yes, this is _mainly_ Leon and Frey (there are other pairings, but not for a while) and while there will be romance and friendship, there will also be adventure, humor, and even slice of life- much like what the game offers the player.

Heck, I might even add in a few characters in much later chapters from older games. More than just Raven and Barrett (time to go get familiar with the older games!)

Look forward to hearing your input, I always love hearing what people have to say about how I write and I am more than happy to insert desired scenes between characters. All you need to do is ask and I'll talk to you about it.

See you in the next chapter.

_~Lore_

Rose Co**lore**d Philosophies


	2. In Which Bumps and Bruises are Formed

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rune Factory, merely borrowing its settings, characters, and basic plot to write my own entertainment.**

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**The Order of the Divine Wind**

Chapter 2

_In Which Bumps and Bruises are Formed_

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The dance was one without rehearsed steps or music. No beat or rhythm to offer the two participants a mood or a set speed to their dance, only their heartbeats, breathing, and the adrenaline that coursed through their veins like a wildfire. Mint green colored eyes clashed with the cerulean colored eyes of her partner as they broke apart, distancing themselves from one another. Their stances were guarded as they slowly circled about, observing each other as they both fought to catch their breaths, sweat dripping down their necks and faces from the excursion.

That was how Leon found Frey one early morning, long before anyone else in the city was awake. Lithe limbs holding her guarded stance as she gripped her dual blades tightly in her hands. Her eyes never once leaving the form of her opponent, who was looking equally formidable, stanced in a near perfect defensive position as she held her large sword at an angle, ready to attack or defend in a moments notice. Leon resisted the urge to whistle low at the sight. He rather these two women _didn't_ realize he was watching such an... intimate fight.

These two women were close, he realized, by the way they could spar with each other. Neither were fighting to harm, regardless of the fact that they were _not_ using dulled weapons. They trusted one another, knew one another, and could easily prevent themselves from harming or being harmed by the other. Such levels of trust, though beautiful to observe, were rather rare to witness. He mildly wondered if Venti was watching this spar from within her hall, since the threshold to her throne room lacked a proper door.

His eyes flickered only a moment to gaze over to Venti's living area before flashing back over to the two warrior women, they had once more begun to dance to their nameless tune of blades and skill. Forte, from Leon's understanding, was the one with years of experience as a knight, having been trained by her father since before he passed on while Frey, the amnesiac pseudo-princess, had only two and a half years or so of training under her belt. However, Leon observed, she must have been trained prior to her accident that left her a clean slate sans her name, because from what he was witnessing, Frey was surprisingly more in tune with herself than Forte.

Muscle memory, he chalked it up to, remembering what his teachers from his childhood called it. The body's ability to recall physical training that the mind might not necessarily remember, such as the instinct and ability to wield a blade without really putting much though into it. Or even _two_ blades. Frey may not remember learning _how_ to wield a blade, but it seemed that her body did and moved instinctually into the right positions that had been drilled into her once upon a time.

Forte blocked a blow from Frey before using the very same slash of her blade she had used to block to land her own counter attack, causing Frey to dodge and jump back. Because her weapon was far larger and heavier to use, Leon noted how Forte made even move of her blade count. She didn't take unnecessary swings and when she did, she made each movement count, including using the kinetic force of one slash of her blade to land two attacks. She had no doubt long ago mastered the manipulation of her blades movements to try to limit the amount of exertion she used in each movement she made, utilizing her energy and motions as to not easy wear out.

Frey, unlike Forte, used two smaller blades, one easily held in each hand and it allowed her a long more freedom than Forte in terms of movement since her blades did not require two hands to grip one large sword. Her motions seemed more fluid and agile comparatively to Forte's more stiff and limited movements and he could easily tell Frey was one for going in fast, doing a large amount of damage _quickly_ before retreating a bit to dodge and gauge the effectiveness of her attacks. She was quite acrobatic with how she moved and evaded Forte's heavy attacks and, just like her sparring partner, her attacks were fluid, utilizing her movements to the fullest, allowing one swing of one hand to be followed up with the movement of the other, even at times merely allowing the movement of her whole body dictate the flow of her blades instead of the controlled movements of her limbs.

In layman's terms, both women were not to be trifled with upon the battlefield and would have been considered quite deadly in his time. There was a reason Forte was the head knight and Frey was known among the town as a warrior princess. It made him itch to to join in their private sparring match, watching the level of their control and aptitude. However, he was not sure how either woman would react to his presence, especially since he had been watching them for some time now. Leon decided it would be best to hold off and wait till the time was more opportune. For now, he'd settle for watching this intrinsic dance of deep bonds unfold.

The match came to a close after Frey had managed to swipe Forte's footing from under her, causing the blonde haired woman to loosen her stance and create a opening for Frey to take advantage of. Frey had stopped one of her swords inches away from Forte's neck, ending the long duel in a victory for the smaller, more flexible Frey. Both women froze to their spots for a beat, panting heavily since both had suddenly began to exert a lot more energy when both realized that the fight was coming close to an end. Leon couldn't help but give the two an applause, startling them both from their inadvertent stare down of each other.

"Very impressive, I must say." Leon continued to clap as he came further onto the plaza, eyes continually observing both women as they stared at him with quiet startle.

"Leon." Frey was the first one to express her surprise, her features flush from more than just her recent activities, her chest still heaving a bit to catch her breath.

"W-what are you doing h-here!?" Forte looked slightly mortified, as if she had been caught doing something that she shouldn't have been.

"I was _merely_ minding my own business, when I happened upon you two sparring here. Quite the display, if I may say so. Do you two do this _often_?" He asked with a teasing smile on his lips.

Forte flustered at his words, as he had expected her to, a huge blush overpowering the slight flush of her workout from her face. "W-what is _that_ suppose to mean!"

"It means nothing more than what it means." Leon informed her, before he grinned impishly at Forte and narrowed his eyes in false accusation. "Or was there _more _to that spar than meets the eye, hmmm, Miss Forte? _Is _there more meaning in it than just a well executed duel?"

Forte bristled at his words, her face turning red from anger as she stumbled over her words in her fury. "Why you!"

Frey was the one who intervened before Leon could find Forte's blade to his throat, though she was no less irritated by his insinuation. "No, Leon. We were just sparring together. We do this nearly four times a week." She glowered as she stepped up to him, trying to get in his face a bit though she was much smaller than him. "And our relationship is _platonic_, just like your relationship with Kiel." She then gave him a wiry smile as she threw his jest back at him. "Or is there more than meets the eye with you and _him_?"

"_Frey_!" Forte whined at the smaller woman's words, not at all pleased that her friend was dragging her little brother into this outlandish conversation.

Leon smirked, not at all thrown by her insincere allegations. "Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. Do you _really_ want to find out? I mean, after all, you don't really know much about me, _princess_. How do _you_ know that I don't entertain the such desires or thoughts?"

"Mmmhmmm, yeah. You're not gay, Leon." Frey deadpanned, no longer amused with how he threw her attempt at flustering him back into her face. "Stop pretending you are to rile up my best friend. And stop using her brother to do it, too. It's not nice, you know."

"Fine." Leon raised his hands up in a playful defeat. "You got me. Kiel's a great kid, but I am more than happy being interested in beautiful women than cute boys." He eyed both of them, letting them both know in that one gesture of what kind of 'women' he was referring to.

Forte immediately stiffened as she put her head down a bit, hiding her mortification as best as she could with her bangs while Frey just took a step back, a squeaked out 'what?' coming from her mouth as she blushed further. Leon couldn't help but enjoy her flustered expression.

Her startle quickly turned into irritation as she scowled at him, hands on her hips as she began her scolding. "Geez, Leon. You don't have to take your teasing _that_ far. A simple affirmation that I was correct would have sufficed." She quickly grabbed her prudish friend before the blonde could make a run for it. Forte had _never_ been good with this sort of thing and Leon was purposely trying to make her flustered and embarrassed over his words.

His baritone laugh nearly melted her vexation at him, but she managed to keep the scowl firmly in place as he laughed and smiled at her. Forte had pretty much been forgotten by Leon at this point as he observed Frey's face. "You're pretty cute when your mad. I'll have to remember that."

"Hey!" Frey stomped her foot, her temper slowly rising. "Don't you have anything else you need to be doing _other_ than irritating us. We'd both like to get back to our morning session, if you don't mind. We only have another hour or so before people start waking up and we can no longer use the plaza for this purpose."

"I see." Leon smirked, his tail wagging behind him gleefully as he continued to talk. "As a matter of fact, princess, I _don't_ have anything else to do. Perhaps I can help you two utilize this time of yours by offering my professional services as a trained lancer?"

"You... you want to _train_ with us?" Frey looked at him rather incredulously before glancing over to Forte to see if female knight was hearing what she was. Her surprise written across her face was confirmation enough for the local royal. She returned her attention to Leon, who had quite the smug smirk on his lips as his eyes told her of his confidence in his abilities.

She was quite unsure of how to go about this, to be honest. "Uh... ok." She finally agreed after mulling it over in her head. "We still have some time left."

"Wonderful." Leon's pleased expression left both Frey and Forte weary of his motives, since he was known to be a bit of a tease and prankster. However, both decided to give him a chance. He was still relatively new to the town and, though people were slowly warming up to him, nobody really _knew_ much about him.

Both Frey and Forte were very active women and both learned by doing, though Frey had a much easier time than Forte by a long shot when it came to studying academically. So, to be honest, the best way the two of them were going to get to know Leon and get a good grip on who he was as a person was by learning who he was as a fighter. The way he would handle himself in combat would allow them insight on things that went beyond normal means of sociable familiarization.

"Hold on just a second and I'll go grab you a lance you can use." Frey told him before he had a chance to excuse himself to go get the one he had recently acquired form Bado. His old lance was in his room as well, but it was more memorabilia than a weapon now.

He nodded his agreement and both he and Forte stood in the plaza center in an awkward silence. He, himself, was not nervous or fretting, but he could tell Forte was uncomfortable being alone with him. Rightly so, he decided, since he often enjoyed ruffling her up with his teasing and could often be found by her whispering things into her brother's ear that she wanted him to know _nothing_ about- like how to hit on girls or how to be more manly. He felt like he should have felt bad about his misbehavior, but what could he say? It was his nature as a kitsune to tease and play tricks. He felt no guilt in it at all. As long as a trick or joke was never taken too far, his kind believed that it was fine to be in tune with their playful, teasing nature.

It wasn't long before Frey was returning, but, much to Leon's surprise and dismay, she was bringing him a safety lance, one much like what Lin Fa had when she chased out any ant monsters from her inn. His frown deepened when he also realized that she had brought duller safety weapons for her and Forte, who accepted hers willingly and walked over to the corner of the plaza to set her _real_ weapon down for the time being. When Frey held out the weapon for Leon, he didn't take it, instead looked at her with a dubious look.

"You're kidding me, aren't you." He tried not to sound irritated, but really, this was somewhat insulting, even if it was a joke.

"No joke, Leon." Frey continued to hold out the offered weapon. "These are the weapons we'll be using for this spar."

"But I just saw the two of you fighting previously. You weren't using... these things." His tail bristled a bit as one of his ears twitched, causing Frey to have to bite her lip to keep from smiling. Apparently she thought it was cute how his ears flickered when he was annoyed. He didn't.

"Yeah, well..." Frey trailed off trying not to smile, but to stay professional as she continued to talk. "I know Forte." She started, gesturing to where Forte had gone to deposit her unnecessary items. "I've fought with her like this for a little longer than a year now and before that, I would go out into monster infested areas with her for a few bounty missions. That has given me the time and ability to gauge her skills and for her to do the same with me. You, however, Leon, I don't know. Nor does Forte. We can't spar with you the same way we can with each other _unless_ we're familiar with you and know your abilities and vice versa." By that time Forte had returned and to Leon's mild surprise, she had taken off most of her heavy armor, only equipped with a few bare necessities.

"It's true." Forte agreed. "Frey and I have become familiar enough with one another to know how not to harm each other with real weapons, but even then, we _did_ start at this level before gradually graduating to where we are now." Leon was now staring at them with a thoughtful expression as he slowly reached out and took the lance, still unsure about if he really wanted to subject himself to using such a useless weapon.

It _would_ benefit him if he went along with it, he realized, and he would even get to know more about the other Earthmate that Venti was so deeply fond of.

"I suppose I must start somewhere." He finally agreed, earning an eager smile from Frey and a small, hesitant one from Forte.

"That's great!" Frey cheered as she began to get ready herself. Now that she was no longer having to hold onto the lance, she began to unlatch her armor and toss it near her front door. The princess had quite the arm on her, the armor nearly hitting her door with how good of a throw she was.

Leon suddenly discovered another interesting fact while subjecting himself to such a ridiculous measure of safety. Apparently, since the weapons were 'safe' and didn't actually cause much damage, Frey and Forte saw no need to wear their armor, which, while it did protect them, since neither could utilize a shield with their weapon choice and chosen style of fighting, also hindered their full range mobility. Yes, the weapons might be dulled, but there was no doubt in the dragon priest's mind that he was going to be able to experience the full extent of their fighting prowess. He smirked at that thought and hoped to impress them as much as they had impressed him.

"Alright, so, who am I fighting first? Or am I fighting both of you at once?" Leon questioned, twirling the safety lance a few times between his fingers to familiarize himself with the new weapon. His fighting abilities, reaction time, and motor skills did not appear to be heavily affected by his long sleep and he deduced that he _could_ possibly hold of the two of them.

Forte and Frey exchanged looks, they seemed to be talking it out with their expressions alone, to which Leon filed away mentally as a potential problem, before they both returned their attentions to him.

"Yeah, sure, we'll both take you on." Frey shrugged before taking a few steps back. "Hope you realize what your in for..."

"I think I have a pretty good idea." Leon nodded, taking a few steps back as well and getting into his opening position.

"If you say so..." Forte trailed off, taking her stance as well.

There was a slight pause before their fight began. Everything suddenly fell quiet as if nature itself was holding its breath in anticipation. Leon's eyes flickered between the two of them as his ears strained to listen for the slightest sound made by them. The two were also watching him, gauging him and how he held his mock lance in an attempt to understand his style. He highly doubted that lancers these days had the same forms from his time and he _knew_ that gave him an advantage. Not only that, but all of them knew he had been watching Frey and Forte's spar and was more familiar with how they fought. This was more than just a simple fight of arms, it was also a game of strategy and intuition.

Then, without warning, that moment of silence and anticipation was gone. Which of them moved first, none of them knew, but Leon quickly found himself using his lance to ward off the heavy attacks of the two women. It took him a few minutes to get a feel for the two's attack form and to even begin to try to counterattack. They moved quickly and in tandem with the other's movements. No words were needed, the two seemed as if they could read each other's minds with how easily their attacks flowed into each other and Leon almost missed the quick subtle gestures the two were giving each other that were no doubt how they coordinated their attack patterns.

Indeed, this was not the first time they teamed up and Leon was quickly assessing that their teamwork was even stronger _because_ they fought one another one on one as a training exercise. He smirked to himself as he managed to block another blow from Frey, the pole of the lance she had given him quacked in his grip, but did not snap under the intense pressure of her strength behind the attack. Despite it being a 'safety' weapon, it was forged to withstand heavy attacks, Leon noted, and that was something he was going to use to his advantage.

Just as quickly as this duel started, where Leon was placed on the defense as his only means of prolonging the fight, he turned his tactics more towards the offensive, ready to prove to both women just how easily he could turn the tables on them and prove he wasn't all talk. Now, he had seen Clorica once or twice before wielding her lance as well as Lin Fa, and, from what he had observed, they didn't wield their lances anything like he used his. In fact, the term lance was a little new to him, introduced by Bado when he sold him his newer weapon. Leon had always known his weapon as a Naginata and was trained in wielding his pole weapon in an art form long forgotten, it seemed.

So, he had an advantage to both women, since neither seemed to expect his next move, one that pushed both women back and had Forte skidding across the stone plaza and bit while Frey actually had to flip backwards, hands flat on the ground but with weapons still secure in her grip, in order to keep herself from falling onto her back. Good instincts, Leon noted as he twirled his lance a few times between one set of fingers before switching it to his other hand and twirling it expertly with those fingers. He gave them an amused grin before he dashed towards them, at last taking the offense. He was able to keep them both distracted as he used both sides of his safety lance to fight, often using the blunt end to disengage Forte's blows before she was able to put enough force into them to be considered an actual attack while using the 'sharper' side of his weapon to fight Frey.

Without even having to look, he landed a harsh blow to Forte's torso, winding the woman greatly before going for Frey, utilizing his lance to its full ability for the time being, knowing it would take Forte a few moments to recover from the hit. He kept his eyes on Frey's upper body and mainly her weapons, but he was cunning enough to use her unfamiliarity of his tactics to sweep her off of her feet and cause her to crash before having to worry again about Forte's next attack. Frey hadn't been expecting that move since his eyes had given nothing away as to where his true aim was, misleading her into leaving her footing open, just as Forte had with his other attack.

He blocked a heavy blow of Forte's weapon, before using a counterattack to use her momentum against her and cause her stumble back a bit to regain her balance. Frey by then had recovered and again he was back to fighting both women. He could easily see that both women were surprised by his dexterity, nimbleness, and off the wall tactics. As for his strength, they already had no doubt guessed he was strong- he didn't wear a shirt after all and his arms and torso were _quite _visible. Both warriors might have even taken him as a cunning opponent, but were now just realizing how misleading and tricky he could be when he was fighting.

The duel continued for a long while, after a while, both Forte and Frey had become more wary of his methods of fighting. They quickly learned that Leon didn't need to see where he was going to attack next and would often keep his eyes away from his targeted area when he did fight. He was aware of all the events going on around him, having a tail made him more cognitive of his surroundings due to having learned to keep it from knocking things over when he was but a young child. Not only that, but he didn't have large fox ears for nothing. Though nothing to the level of which Margaret seemed to be able to hear, Leon could shift them about and get a pretty good idea of what sort of momentum was being deployed or how far or close a person was without looking. His senses told him things that his eyes could not and he trusted his other senses more in battle than he did his own eyes. Right now, he was merely watching out for any signals the two women used to align their attacks together. That and the vast array of expressions that crossed Frey's face as they fought- she was so _cute_ when she looked like that.

Leon was the one who finally ended the duel. More like he blocked their attacks, pushed them both back a ways, before raising one of his hands up to make them pause. He _had_ been keeping up with them pretty well, but he was still feeling the effects from his long slumber, ones he hadn't even been aware previously, and they were suddenly creeping up on him. He didn't have the stamina to continue the duel and he knew when to quit. He certainly didn't want to overdo it and end up getting hurt because he wasn't paying attention to his own limit. He knew that Frey and Forte could keep going, despite their heavy breathing and the sweat dripping from their persons. He too was sweating and he was feeling slightly out of breath as well.

"I give." He forfeited. "I'm done."

"Thank the dragons." Forte muttered as she allowed the weight of her weapon to relax in her grip, the tip hitting the plaza ground as she slowly started to walk around a bit to release the tension from her body.

"Hmm? What was that?" Leon smirked at her, having heard her words. "Glad I forfeited before you had to?"

"To be honest," Frey spoke up before Leon could attempt anything with Forte, "I wasn't expecting you to be as good as you were. I don't think Forte was either." She sheepishly grinned as she rubbed her side a bit. "I almost wish I _hadn't_ taken off the armor."

"I'm definitely going to be feeling it later." Forte agreed as she put her hand where he had used the back end of his pole to stun and wind her.

Leon frowned. Though he felt like he had been put through the ringer himself, he hadn't meant to hurt them. Frey seemed to read his expression and she quickly corrected his thinking.

"Don't worry about it Leon. Forte and I were always covered in bumps and bruises when we first started doing this." She assured him. "Its just been a while since we've really felt like this. As you may have seen, we're pretty familiar with one another's fighting styles _and_ we wear pretty durable armor when we spar now."

"Indeed." Forte nodded before giving Leon a proud smirk. "Though don't think that we're the only ones going to be aching later. I _know_ I got you pretty hard too a few times, not to mention how many times _Frey_ managed to hit you."

"Yeah," Frey couldn't help but laugh a bit. "You're in the same boat as us, Leon, so don't feel too bad for hurting us."

That did make him feel better about it. He couldn't help but mentally agree. Forte had managed to get him in the legs pretty hard a few times while Frey had landed quite a few attacks on his arms and torso. He would be fortunate if he made it back to the inn before he started limping.

"I'll definitely keep that in mind." Leon agreed. He lifted up the safety lance and held it out to Frey. "Thank you for lending this to me and thank you both for allowing me to impose on your fun. I enjoyed it very much- despite the various amounts of bruises I am going to attain from this."

"Keep it." Frey waved off his attempt to return the weapon. "You'll need it if you're going to spar with us again."

"Though, perhaps next time we can do it more one on one next time. I'd like to see how well I can stand against you without having backup." Forte agreed with an eager smile.

Leon looked at them, surprise evident in his expression as his brows raised high and a light frown crossed his lips. "You wouldn't mind?"

He honestly would love to keep doing this. He had always been active in his time and all the inactivity he had recently been subjected to was starting to grate at his nerves. He had yet found his niche in this small town and, though he had already caused some mischief, he had been longing for some sort of activity to focus upon. Sparring in the mornings would be a good first step in the right direction, he mused. Perhaps once he found himself a full day's schedule, it would make going to sleep much easier and more appealing to him.

"Of course not." Frey shook her head. "The reason Forte and I do this is because we _like_ doing it. No one told us to. No one is making us."

"And your style is very unique. It would be interesting to fight against you again. I have never seen such tactics before." Forte added in, her excitement was evident by the shy smile she had on her face.

Though Leon was deeply touched by their offer, especially since their offer was quite sincere, the kitsune couldn't resist his own nature. "Oh? I see how it is. You are only offering because of my _unique_ fighting style." His tone was light-hearted and not at all serious, but Forte was so easy for him to bait.

"N-No!" She looked panicked as she tried to correct her previous statement. "I merely meant that, while it would be no issue at all that you join us, that it was also a plus to have someone of your skills as an opponent!"

Leon laughed. "I know what you meant. You're so fun to tease."

"Geez," Frey sighed. "Can you _not_ do that at every chance you see?"

"If you wish for me to stop, then stop making it so easy for me." He smirked at Frey with a impish look in his eye. "But then again, I'm more attracted to the people that are amusing to tease."

"So what? _We_ should be happy you think we're easy targets?" Frey huffed, slightly annoyed at his words.

"No, I am." Leon stretched, using his new lance to assist his effort. "Because if you were boring, then I would have never found my way to you. And that would have been truly a disappointment- not getting to know the two of you."

Both women flushed at the implication as Leon turned and started walking away, laughing heartily at their dumbfounded, embarrassed expressions.

"Geez." Frey muttered under her breath, her face still red as she tried to compose herself. There should have been no way that he could simply melt her anger into near nothing with merely his laugh, but he sounded so merry as he did so. She let go of her irritation, knowing that there were times when happiness eluded him. She had seen him with a disquieted look from time to time in the middle of the night, though he didn't know she had seen him, staring up at the stars and looking tired and anxious.

If this made him happy, then what as a little teasing between friends?

"Hey! We meet up ever morning excepts on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I expect to see you tomorrow!" Frey called out to him, slightly smiling when she saw him turn his head a bit to look at her before waving that he had heard her.

"Was... was this a good idea..." Forte looked over a Frey with a nervous look.

"Well," Frey drawled as she looked at her anxious friend with a kind eye. "It means you're going to have to develop a thicker skin when it comes to Leon and his words. I think this will be as good for him as it will be for us." She smiled brightly as she fought her own unease of breaching this subject. "Plus, how long has it been since there was more than just the two of us? I think it's time we had another body join us."

"I-indeed..." Forte looked down, a small frown upon her lips as she agreed with her best friend.

"Well, I have a few fields to take care of, monsters to feed, Venti to argue with, errands to run, a few monster bounties to take care of, and my duties as princess to attend to." Frey rattled off her schedule to the knight, taking a quick second to take a good whiff of arm. "_Phew_. After I finish tending to my monsters, I'm definitely taking a bath."

"See you at eleven at the baths?" The blonde extended an invitation with a eager smile. She still had her own workout she needed to finish before she took a bath as well.

"Sounds good." Frey agreed with a smile, waving goodbye to her friend as she headed for her wing of the castle. "I'll see you then!"

"Until later," the knight agreed before heading over to where she had left her armor to redress in it before she started her morning jogging and sword sets.

As Frey entered what had been her home for the last two and a half years, she tossed her safety weapons into her weapons rack before tossing her armor near her dresser for the time being. She quickly went to her farming rack, got her tools and gathered her needed seeds so she could replace whatever root plants she would be harvesting today.

As she did so, she mentally went over her and Forte's spar with Leon and his words. She let out a sigh as she came to a final conclusion over her invitation of him joining their morning routine.

Things were no doubt about to get a whole lot more complicated.

Well...

Then again, the amnesiac pseudo-princess who also happened to be an earthmate pondered, when had her life _not_ been complicated?

* * *

A/N: Surprise! A rather quick update, if I may say so! The prompt for this one is _Complications. _A little different than I had originally planned for this chapter, but I think it was very much needed.

Right now I am replaying the game's second arc as Lest. I had renamed him Vash just because I think it is a cooler name, but whatever. Just because I was going to include the second arc into this story, I purposely took Forte and Leon with me to all the areas to read their comments. It's interesting because when you first fight Terrable, Leon's all like "Not sure how I feel about fighting a Divine Dragons since I am a dragon priest..." and Forte's all like "It is my duty as a Divine Dragon Knight to fight." Okay. Not word for word, but interesting, no? By the way, they say nothing if you take them to fight Ethelberd. (Which when he merges with Venti, he becomes Ethelwill... haha... fusion... Gotanks... ahem... yeah...)

As for Leon's weapon. I mentioned something called a _naginata_. It's basically the Japanese version of a medieval glaive. Why did I choose a naginata? Easy, because the game is made by Natsume and I've played enough Japanese games (and watched enough anime and read enough folklore) to know that foxes (kitsune) are knowns as trickers, shape-shifters, potent in magic, very mischievous, in love with fried tofu (yeah, won't get into that at this time), and are sometimes, depending if you see the beads, are messengers of Inari. Leon is a Dragon Priest, uses magic, and his guardians statues as well as his own fox ears and tail give away that they based him off of their concept of the fox spirits. (With oddly some Egyptian mixed in? I will never get that.) So, the weapon of choice should be something more Japanese based. Thus the naginata.

Also, before any of you ask. I don't know how weapons are wielded and I honestly struggle with fight scenes... so even if there is adventure and some action, I'm not going too deep into specifics. You want an amazing fight scene... you're going to have to go watch a movie... sorry... But I will attempt when needed. Or outsource...

I will also try to keep the Japanese terms to a minimum. The only terms I might use is when I talk about Leon as a Kitsune (fox) or possible Dylas as an Uma (horse). That's about it.

Okay, now for one last thing.

**Readingpassion-writinglove: **_Thank you so much for being my first reviewer! As for your review. I hope that I will continue to interest you with this story. Thanks for putting in the time to review. It honestly means a lot to me, especially since I'm just starting out._

Look forward to hearing all of your input, I always love hearing what people have to say about how I write and I am more than happy to insert desired scenes between characters. All you need to do is ask and I'll talk to you about it.

See you in the next chapter.

_~Lore_

Rose Co**lore**d Philosophies


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